« Death in the islands | Main | So we may end up having to keep this scum? »
May 27, 2004
Yes Minister?
Today several papers have highlighted probably the major reason why our economy is stagnating and taxes rising. Our Illustrious Leader and his buddies have been expanding the legions of bureaucrats exponentially. No wonder the armed forces are being slowly destroyed and nothing ever actually gets done - most of the additional 500,000 posts created (444 per day last year!) have been for back room paper shufflers such as "Gender Awareness Officers" and "Target Monitoring Officers".
Yes, 500,000 of them. This takes the Civil Service to a record high of 5,454,000 - up since 1998 from 4,945,000 - and now accounts for 20% of the total workforce. As the Telegraph writer says - hardly jobs that make the economy grow, or which contribute to any growth. In the same period private sector jobs have fallen significantly, suggesting that Mr Blair and Mr Brown are "creating" jobs in the Public Sector - at the taxpayers expense - to disguise the fact that the real economy, not the Walter Mitty economy of the Whitehall Wallahs, is actually shrinking.
With this kind of "growth" is it any wonder that we are having the fleet cut to nothing, the armed forces must share body armour, ammunition is rationed, and most of the airforce is grounded? Is it any wonder the delivery end of almost all public services are being squeezed with stupid "targets" set by morons in Whitehall and used selectively to show "improvement" no matter how bad the delivery actually is?
We laughed at Sir Humphrey and his antics, but this has gone beyond a joke.
I am in the process of filling in my tax return, a complicated and unnecessary process since they have already got the money - Pay As You Earn sees to that - and the form is stupidly complex to boot. The realisation that I have paid this bunch of layabouts slightly more than 26% of my earnings in DIRECT taxation (Income Tax plus "National Insurance") and have had to pay an average of a further 17.5% in Value Added Tax on almost everything I buy makes my blood boil!
I see precious little in return - the roads I use are badly maintained, the NHS fails to deliver any meaningful "health care", the Emergency Service is being destroyed, businesses are being driven to the wall, and the wastage in Whitehall just increases in an ever growing spiral!
Parkinson's Law - published in the 1960's as a little joke - has come home to roost. Parkinson showed in his original "Law" that "Every Civil Servant acquires two assistants." Think about it. There is currently one Civil Servant for every four people in the work force - and that is without counting all those in Local Government - another 5 million or so! How long before the only people in employment in this counrty are the Civil Servants and their chums in Local Government.
At this rate of growth it won't be long at all.
Posted by The Gray Monk at May 27, 2004 03:34 PM
Comments
Britian might just prove that communism can work.
Everyone will some work for the greater good of The State. Thats what it looks like Blair is trying to do.
Posted by: Matthew at May 28, 2004 04:40 AM
You could be right, but I rather think it will fail for the same reasons it has elsewhere. People resent the constant impositions from a band of useless penpushers and nannies, and, once everyone is paid from the tax take - where does the wealth creation and regeneration happen.
Economically this is a downward spiral which cannot be sustained.
Posted by: The Gray Monk at May 28, 2004 11:45 AM